The Cuisine 100 - Part One (1 - 20)
The food, drink, people, places and things we love. There’s a lot of good food in this country, but which products, which people, which places have that special edge? We asked our contributors to name their favourites – the things that make a real difference to them, right now, in the quality of New Zealand’s culinary experience. Then we had a long debate about which would make the final list. Here’s the result, in no special order.
1. SOURDOUGH BREAD
 Artisan baking had a thin tradition in New Zealand, despite the efforts of a handful of mainly mid-European immigrant bakers over many years. But 10 years ago there was a revolution. The instigators were Kaye and Richard Tollenaar at Pandoro in the Auckland suburb of Parnell, and their instrument of change was the sourdough starter.
It sounds simple. You make a dough of water and flour and set it to capture wild yeasts from the air. Over some days you feed the mix with more water and flour. It takes longer than bread made with baker’s yeast, but the result is rich, tangy, chewy and wonderfully crusty. Until just 250 years ago, all leavened bread was made like this.
But making it well is a far subtler matter. Richard learned the secret from the CIA (the Culinary Institute of America), and although he and Kaye are no longer involved with Pandoro, they have many worthy successors.
Food editor Lauraine Jacobs reckons the sourdough boule made by the Pop In Pâtisserie in Matakana could be the finest of its kind in the country. Others give that title to the potato sourdough from Auckland’s Wild Wheat, while further south, the breads of Le Moulin and the Bordeaux Bakery in Wellington, Rachel Scott in Canterbury, Harbour St Bakery in Oamaru and Dunedin’s Indigo – among others – all have their own vocal fans.
2. KING SALMON
 Tokyo sushi bar owners pay a premium for our rare flaming orange species of salmon, introduced here in the 19th century and also known as Pacific or quinnat. The oil is in the flesh, rather than in a subcutaneous fat layer as in the inferior but more common Atlantic species farmed elsewhere in the world.
Our government won’t allow Atlantic salmon to be introduced for farming here, so the industry has to raise the skittery, temperamental Pacific species. Good cooked any way you like, and even better when it’s nice and fresh and not cooked at all. Widely available.
3. PIAKO PETE’S SMOKED FISH AND FLOUNDER
 Piako Pete’s flounder was minding its own business in the Thames Estuary just hours before he’s got it on sale to you at his stall by the Kopu Bridge, Pipiroa. He sells sensational smoked fish as well, and has some enthusiastic restaurant clients. And he is not alone – the smoked-fish industry just might be the best-kept secret in New Zealand food. Our contributors have said great things about the Coromandel Smoking Company, the Smokehouse at Mapua, Vanderdrift’s smoked eel in Stratford, Aoraki smoked salmon, Aquahaven’s smoked eel in Leeston, Nature Smoke in Stoke and Farm Smokehouse in Christchurch.
4. THE COFFEE KINGS
 How good is it now? We drink flat whites and long blacks and every possible variation of either, and we can do it sitting at pavement tables in the sun. As for the brew itself, when it’s fresh-roasted and strong-bodied, New Zealand coffee is more satisfying than either the dishwater they serve in the US or the lukewarm smear of mud you sometimes find in a European cup. Why? Because in the 1980s and 90s a visionary group of café-owners-cum-coffee-roasters made it so. Michael Allpress led the way in Auckland. In Wellington, Jeff Kennedy at Caffe L’affare was the pioneer, and he was soon joined by a group of likely lads at Havana Coffee Works and the suaver folks at Coffee Supreme.
This triumvirate made their mark with cafés as well as coffee. The Havana-run Fidel’s in Cuba St was and is still the archetype for grunge-chic. At the late, lamented Reds on Willis St, the Supreme team designed the template for a café for people on the run from the office. And at Caffe L’affare, Jeff Kennedy wove the biggest magic spell of all. Even after nearly 20 years, L’affare is still somehow both unbelievably boisterous and a comfort zone for everyone who loves their coffee – even including parents with toddlers.
We brought Jeff together with Chris Dillon of Supreme and Geoff Marsland of Havana, to see if it was true they would poke fun at each other. It was. Havana’s electric “contraption” causes some amusement – the others have roasters fuelled by gas. But all agreed they are defined less by their roasting than by the idiosyncratic cultures of their companies. “Supreme is for nobs,” says Jeff. “L’affare is for socialists and Havana for the rabble.”
“The next generation,” Geoff Marsland interjects. “We each have our own niche,” says Chris, sagely.
In practice, all three have stayed independent and withstood the pressures of the multinationals, and now sell widely throughout New Zealand. There are even some exports. www.laffare.co.nz; www.havana.co.nz; www.coffeesupreme.co.nz
5. THE DOUBLE LONG BLACK AT THE MUSTARD SEED CAFÉ
Really good coffee may seem like a big city thing, but city cafés can disappoint just as small-town cafés can delight. Australian contributor Jane Adams nominated Oamaru’s Short Black Café for “the best coffee I have had in years anywhere, including Italy”. That got them close, but they’ve changed their coffee supplier since Jane’s visit, so we’re opting for wine editor (and coffee connoisseur) Michael Cooper’s choice, which he has sampled repeatedly: the “rich and memorable” double long black at the Mustard Seed Café in Turangi. Made with Gravity beans.
6. ALL-BUTTER PUFF PASTRY
 Fed up with the deadening effect of commercial fats on shop-bought pastry? Not sure you have the skills to succeed on your own? Industry professionals can buy an all-butter puff pastry from Gourmet Direct, but most is exported to Japan and they do not supply the retail market. However, Sabato sells an unbranded puff pastry made solely from flour, butter, water and salt. Your pies will never be the same again. www.sabato.co.nz
7. ÉCLAIRS AT LE POMMIER FRENCH BAKERY
 One contributor nominated the chocolate tart, two others the pastries in general, and Australian connoisseur Stephanie Alexander has declared the chocolate and coffee éclairs made by Moïse Cerson at Le Pommier French Bakery in Greytown to be the best she has had outside Paris. Ph: 06-304 8873.
8. SILICON COOKWARE
 Lightweight, soft and flexible, silicon has all sorts of uses in food preparation, and it looks great too. Best of all, it withstands heat up to 200°C, so you can poke a silicon spatula into every corner of a simmering pot.
9. CAMLA FARM SINGLE-VARIETY APPLE JUICES
Different apple varieties taste different, so how come most apple juices are just called “apple”? Annabel Graham’s idea to produce single-variety juices may seem obvious now, but at the time it was a revelation. She and husband Peter have 3000 apple trees in their orchards at Camla Farm in Canterbury and produce seven different varietal juices (Braeburn, Granny Smith, Cox’s Orange, Fiesta, Royal Gala, Fuji and Pacific Rose). In flavour, complexity, aroma, and even colour, they offer a broad range. Ph: 03-325 4387.
10. THE 2006 CHAMPION OF CHAMPIONS CHEESE
 New Zealand cheese is fast coming of age. Most large cities have specialist cheese shops, elsewhere supermarkets offer a big deli range, and fine European-style cheeses are being made by a thriving community of boutique cheesemakers and industry giants alike.
The supreme winner in last year’s Champions of Cheese Awards was a Vintage Leyden, a handcrafted Dutch cheese made by the Karikaas factory in North Canterbury. The year before, the top honour went to Ferndale’s Swiss-style Raclette, and in 2003 the award went to a ricotta by Wellington’s Zany Zeus. We can’t tell you this year’s winner – judging in the 2006 awards, now sponsored by Cuisine, was due to occur while we were at the printer. See the results here.
11. CANTERBURY CHEESEMONGERS
 At Canterbury Cheesemongers you buy cheese from people – not just off shelves. Sarah and Martin Aspinwall used to mature and sell cheese at Neal’s Yard Dairy in London before opening their store in Christchurch. Here, in a glass-walled, atmosphere-controlled room, they ripen cheeses from New Zealand and elsewhere, selling them at their peak, cut to order from whole rounds on display.
Taste before you buy is the rule: the tastings are generous and accompanied by equally generous explanations about the cheese’s background and how best to eat it. No pressure here to buy a whole kilo: the Aspinwalls would rather you chose a few slivers to eat today, at their best, and come back tomorrow for something more.
Martin is also a trained baker, and in the shop itself he bakes breads such as ciabatta and sourdough. He also makes traditional pastries such as eccles cakes, pork pies, madeleines, Bakewell tarts and Yorkshire parkin. They sell out so fast, you’re best to place an order. There is even a range of chutneys, jams and grocery items, all of which go well with cheese. www.cheesemongers.co.nz
12. KARIKAAS CULTURED BUTTER AND BUTTERMILK
 Karikaas in Canterbury is best known for its cheeses, but we’re also fond of its buttermilk and butter. A culture is added to the milk that imparts both buttermilk and butter with a tang not dissimilar to European farmhouse dairy products – it’s somewhere between sharp and sour on the taste scale, which also makes it different from the big brands.
Karikaas owner Diane Hawkins bought the business from founders Rients and Karin Rypma two years ago and is intent on increasing the output not only of cheeses, but of the sideline products as well. “We are having a very good season,’’ she says. “The milk has a lovely flavour, there is plenty of it and, yes, we are making more butter. It’s now available in 5kg blocks as well as butter balls.’’ www.karikaas.co.nz
13. VALENTINA DIAS OF PUDDING LANE
 Valentina Dias single-handedly makes traditional English pies and puddings “as they were intended to be made”. Growing up in Yorkshire, she was fascinated by the social history of the local food and realised “the old recipes had been watered down – literally”.
Now living in Wellington, she has adapted some of those recipes for modern tastes. Valentina hand-raises hot-water pastry, fills it with meat and seasonings, and when it is baked and cooled, pours in stock jelly to make bulbous game and Melton Mowbray-style pies. She also makes steamed suet puddings in cannonball moulds.
This is true artisan food. Valentina makes everything – the pastries, forcemeat, pâté, stock, lemon curd and custard – from scratch, by hand, using only ingredients of fine quality.The dedication shows: Pudding Lane fare is superb. Available at Meat on Tory in Wellington and selected outlets. puddinglane@xtra.co.nz
14. NEW ZEALAND SAFFRON
 It takes about 540 stamens of the crocus flower – all picked by hand – to make a single gram of saffron. Iran still produces most of the world’s crop but, remarkably, the crocuses grown in Hawke’s Bay, Canterbury and Central Otago can be twice as productive.
Saffron is expensive to buy, so there are fakes on the market. But you need only use about a dollar’s worth to get all the benefit of those complex, earthy flavours and brilliant yellow colouring, and if you choose the home-grown version you can be sure of its provenance and freshness.
15. NEW ZEALAND CHERRIES
 The season is over now, but cherries were our pick of last summer’s fruit. The first of the crop, the Dawson variety available in time for Christmas, was good. But as January progressed, the cherries kept getting bigger, firmer, sweeter and juicier.
Central Otago, Marlborough and Hawke’s Bay now offer several varieties. Some, like the large, almost black Lapins, look as terrific as they taste. But don’t overlook the light-coloured Rainier variety – they might look like rejects, but they’re the sweetest of them all.
16. FREEDOM FARMS BACON
Freedom Farms in Canterbury is the first mainstream bacon producer in New Zealand to guarantee its pigs are free-range. What’s more, it dry-cures the bacon in the time-honoured way, with the addition only of salt and sugar. The bacon contains no water after curing, and cooks to a crisp and tasty finish. Available in supermarkets and priced competitively with other dry-cured bacons.
17. SLOW-ROASTED LAMB
We’re conditioned to think lamb should be pink, but that ignores the great pleasures of slow-roasting. Peter Gordon suggests using a boned leg, flavoured (with anchovies, garlic and herbs, perhaps), sealed in foil and cooked for 30 minutes at 200°C, then turned down to 170°C for another three hours. The meat can be carved with a spoon and tastes wonderfully subtle. See Maria Pia’s recipe, here
18. WEST COAST BURGERS FROM BETHELLS FOOD STORE & CAFÉ
 When you’re done with the walking, the gazing, the surfing, or whatever else you’ve gone to the wild west coast of Auckland for, you want a decent bite to eat. Something with flavour and body. Something to defy the fact that the idea of takeaway food is almost invariably better than the reality. You want a West Coast Burger from the caravan at Bethells Beach. Made with tomatoes and lettuce grown locally, home-made patties and mayo, they are world famous in West Auckland, for very good reason.
19. FREE-RANGE EGGS
 The birds have better lives and the eggs end up tastier, provided you eat them fresh, and they have rich yellow yolks. As if that wasn’t enough, you can buy them in supermarkets everywhere now. Beware of imitations, though. To ensure quality, and support the farmers who do it right, check for certification labels.
20. HEUVEL’S ORGANIC FREE-RANGE CHICKENS
Everything tastes like chicken, they say in The Matrix. Which, in case you needed persuading, just goes to show how much better life is in the real world. There’s nothing quite like the succulent and tasty flesh of an organic free-range fowl. Available in organic butcheries and many supermarkets.
More of The Cuisine 100
Part Two, Part Three, Part Four, Part Five
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